Isolated AC/DC Offline High Power Factor Single-Switch LED Drivers Without Electrolytic Capacitors

Energy-efficient residential lighting such as household light-emitting diode (LED) lamps with ac input require an ac/dc converter (or driver) with large output capacitance to minimize the low frequency LED current ripple. The energy storage capacitor used in the conventional ac/dc LED driver is usually an electrolytic capacitor due to its low cost and high energy density. However, the average lifetime of an electrolytic capacitor is at least 2-3 times less than that of an LED device. Hence, the potential lifetime of the LED lamp is significantly affected by the presence of the electrolytic capacitor in the driver circuit. In this paper, two novel isolated single-switch ac/dc high power factor LED drivers without using any electrolytic capacitors are proposed. In the proposed circuits, the energy storage capacitor is moved to the rectifier side, with a three-winding transformer used to provide isolation; input power factor correction as well as to store and provide the required energy to the output. As a result, the energy storage capacitance is significantly reduced, which allows film capacitor to be used to replace the conventionally used electrolytic capacitors. The circuit's operating principles and its characteristics are described in this paper. Simulation and experimental results are given on a 120 Vrms, 12 W prototype to confirm that a power factor of at least 0.96 is achieved.